Moon of Alabama Brecht quote
September 20, 2025
Media Disguise Airspace Violation Claims

The warmongering stunts by the east European states and NATO are laughable.

Russian Fighter Jets Enter Airspace of Estonia, a NATO Member (archived) – NY Times, Sep 19 2025
Estonia’s foreign minister described the flights, which lasted for an unusually long 12 minutes, as an “unprecedentedly brazen” intrusion.

Three Russian fighter jets violated Estonia’s airspace on Friday for an unusually long period, some 12 minutes, in what Estonia’s foreign minister called an “unprecedentedly brazen” intrusion over the NATO country.

NATO responded to intercept the Russian jets, Allison Hart, the military alliance’s spokeswoman, said in a statement on X. “This is yet another example of reckless Russian behavior and NATO’s ability to respond,” she said.
…
Tensions were already high after at least 21 Russian drones flew in Polish airspace 10 days ago, prompting NATO to scramble fighter jets to shoot down some of them. That incursion was regarded by Polish officials, who provided an updated count of the drones, as a deliberate effort to test the alliance’s readiness and a dangerous escalation of the war in Ukraine.

The unarmed Russian Gebera decoy drones that flew over Poland do a have a range of some 600 kilometer (370 mi). If they had been launched from behind Russian lines they would not have reached Poland. The drones were most likely found in Ukraine, patched up and reprogrammed by Ukrainian services, and sent towards Poland. They were just on the ways Ukraine tries to drag NATO into its war. 

The 'unprecedentedly brazen intrusion' into the airspace of Estonia, if it has happened at all, did not take place over Estonia's mainland but near Vaindloo, an uninhabited rock in the Gulf of Finland in the Baltic Sea, some 26 kilometer (16 mi) north of the Estonian coast.


bigger

The NY Times piece does, of course, NOT mention that. It is worded to make the reader believe that Estonia was somehow endangered.

The Russian military says that its jets did not violate Estonian airspace:

MOSCOW, September 20. /TASS/. Three Russian MiG-31 jets carried out a scheduled flight from Karelia to the Kaliningrad Region without violating Estonian airspace, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.

"On September 19, three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets made a scheduled flight from Karelia to an airfield in the Kaliningrad Region. The flight was conducted in strict accordance with international airspace rules, without violating the borders of other states, which is confirmed by objective monitoring. During the flight, the Russian aircraft did not deviate from the agreed flight path and did not violate Estonian airspace. The aircraft's flight path lay over the neutral waters of the Baltic Sea, more than three kilometers from the island of Vaindloo," the statement said.

The statements by Estonia’s foreign minister Margus Tsahkna amount, in sight of the facts, to hysterical nonsense:

“Russia has violated Estonian airspace four times already this year, which is unacceptable in itself, but today’s violation, during which three fighter jets entered our airspace, is unprecedentedly brazen,” Mr. Tsahkna said in a statement, which he issued in slightly different form on X. He called it “clear proof of Russia’s growing aggression.”

Members of NATO should respond with more pressure on Moscow, Mr. Tsahkna said. “Russia’s ever-increasing testing of borders and aggressiveness must be responded to by rapidly strengthening political and economic pressure,” he said. Estonia summoned the Russian chargé d’affaires to protest the flights, the ministry said.

Estonia’s prime minister, Kristen Michal, said he would seek urgent talks with his NATO allies.

“The Government of Estonia has decided to request NATO Article 4 consultations,” Mr. Michal wrote, invoking the section of the alliance’s charter that allows a member state to begin formal discussions about threats to its security.

The 'western' media do not reveal the details of the 'intrusion'. They no longer report, but disguise the facts to create opinions.

On top of that some dimwit officials chip in:

Brian McDonald @27khv – 10:04 utc · Sep 20, 2025

Lithuania’s defence minister falsely claims Russian jets flew “over Tallinn.” It was allegedly over Vaindloo Island in the Gulf of Finland, 100km from the capital. She then urges a replay of Turkey’s 2015 shoot-down (an F-16 bringing down a Russian Su-24).

The trouble is, Lithuania has no fighters of its own. Not even one. So what she’s really demanding is that others light the match for World War Three.
link

The small and often imaginary incidents, like this 'incursion', add up in the public mind with the effect of making it more anti-Russian.

This is one of the reasons why the president of Russia is concerned that we are sliding toward World War III.

Comments

So we are expected to believe Russia violated Estonian airspace, well where is the cockpit video and audio from the Nato pilot who is intercepting the Russian jets warning them off? all i have seen ate still photographs, i call Bullshit?

Posted by: Englishman | Sep 20 2025 21:42 utc | 101

@robin | Sat, 20 Sep 2025 13:52:00 GMT | 26

There are maps circulating with the alledged flight track. One can be found on the Estonian World website :
https://estonianworld.com/security/chart-shows-russian-jets-12-minute-violation-of-estonian-airspace/
I measured this track as roughly 170 km. A 12 minute flight would imply 850 km/h. Does that sound right?

Yes, that sounds right. I’m not a pilot, but those parameters are sensible (subsonic flight without afterburner). There is also a strategic rationale that I can see: impress the Euros in the hope of instilling some sense into them. At least get the politicians to talk to some sane heads in the military, which I assume/hope are there.

Posted by: persiflo | Sep 20 2025 22:05 utc | 102

@p3t3r | Sat, 20 Sep 2025 14:20:00 GMT | 35

That colonial […] started in the 8th century by the ruler after which an infamous prize for NATO war criminals and collaborators is named:
https://www.lagis-hessen.de/img/ga/s3/14.jpg
https://maps.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/shepherd_1911/shepherd-c-080.jpg

Thank you for these maps!

Posted by: persiflo | Sep 20 2025 22:14 utc | 103

Posted by: boneless | Sep 20 2025 15:39 utc | 51
@ vargas | Sep 20 2025 14:29 utc | 38
They are goingvto stage a fake Russian attackbon tjmselves.
Since we got the expert on the scene engaging with mere mortals again, let me ask.
Why haven’t they yet?
Posted by: Genesis | Sep 20 2025 17:21 utc | 66

There is an old film explaining teh Western way of thinking about this
escalation.
The film is called “Fail safe”
Here Professor Groeteschele explains that Russia won’t dare to respond
to nuclear attack, thet the USA should attack first. Everybody in the EU or the USA considers Russians
to be so inferior that they wont dare to retaliate to the first strike.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OXRci6Dfh4
The whole film.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9R3w8wDrmM
Putin fits well in in that kind of thinking.
Putin never responds.
I saw it or read it maybe somewhere else, the idea that the Russian would be so perplex and confused when they see what Americans dare to do that they would just sit down in a kind of Eastern or Slavic stupor and watch Moscow burning.
I am sorry, but this idea about their own superiority just lives on among the EU population, even more then in the USA.
Russian resistance is unthinkable for the western mind. I know, somebody in Russia would probably decide to respond, but for the deep state decision makers this is unthinkable.

Posted by: vargas | Sep 20 2025 22:33 utc | 104

But this film above is an anti war film.
I just wanted to say how the decision makers think.
I saw some decision makers, not so high in the hierarchy, but I saw CEOs acting.
It is the same.
The military leaderships are highly influenced by “greed is good” capitalism of the Regan and Thacher era.

Posted by: vargas | Sep 20 2025 22:39 utc | 105

@Genesis | Sat, 20 Sep 2025 17:39:00 GMT | 70

French Rafale fighter jets belonging to a special unit that have arrived in Poland are capable of carrying nuclear weapons. These aircraft do not belong to units traditionally tasked with air defense, but rather to units of the 4th Air Wing, stationed at the 113th Air Base in Saint-Dizier-Robinson and specialized in nuclear weapons.
They can be armed with ASMP missiles carrying a nuclear warhead with an explosive yield of 100 to 300 kilotons of TNT and a range of up to 600 kilometers.
❗️The fighter jets presumably arrived in Poland without nuclear warheads. However, at the same time as the Rafale, an A-400M Atlas transport aircraft landed at the Minsk-Mazowiecki Air Base with an unknown cargo.

Bold move. By this logic, NATO tripwire forces in Odessa suddenly make sense: if Russia crosses the river to attack them, then . . .

Posted by: persiflo | Sep 20 2025 22:40 utc | 106

Genesis@66…..why would Russia attack Boston or New York? The issue lies north of the English Channel…..Whitehall, they will continue to reduce Russia’s infrastructure until Putin cries Uncle. Sadly the Russians have yet to figure it out and on top of that, Britkrainia can reach 1300km into Russia’s tender and undefended rear…..now that’s gonna require one hell of a buffer zone…..
Cheers M

Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Sep 20 2025 22:40 utc | 107

There’s a quote about making people believe in absurdities can make them believe anything. Very Freemason playbook.
I can’t believe I’m going to say this and I will feel so dirty, I’ll need a hot shower.
Vargas is right! Dreaming is free and all the hapless, useless, pathetic groveling waste of skin can do.
VdL’s GPS spoof story blowing up in her face, Polish citizens cruel memes mocking the establishment, and now this.
Just like the shutdown of dissent against the Covid narrative, we don’t get to see the views on the street.
Let’s recap to Germany’s Greens having to outlaw ridicule from its “citizens”.
I believe as Juan Sanchez famously said, “Mucho ado about nada”!

Posted by: Suresh | Sep 20 2025 22:42 utc | 108

Fortuna | Sep 20 2025 12:42 utc | 16
“NYT could once be trusted.”
No. Sorry. It has always lied. It’s just “we” didn’t readily have access to any alternative.
The Charlie Kirk assassination is the JFK RFK MLK of our time.
The NYT has dutifully reported the official version.
Candace Owens is dissecting and destroying that nonsense in real time.
With pics, interviews and one hundred thousand research assistants.
Her blog had over 1 million views in 30mins.
The purveyors of narrative like the NYT cannot compete with that.
They never had to with JFK or any “op” up till now.
Which is why The Garden is reaching for internet restrictions.
This dear barflies, was the Information Golden Age. Such as it was.

Posted by: Melaleuca | Sep 20 2025 22:50 utc | 109

Russian MiG-31s Redeployed to Kaliningrad Without Violating Estonian Airspace – Russian MoD
Full statement:
On September 19, three Russian MiG-31 fighters carried out a scheduled transfer from Karelia to an airfield in the Kaliningrad region.
The flight was conducted strictly in line with international airspace regulations, without violating the borders of other states—this has been confirmed by objective monitoring systems.
The aircraft did not deviate from the agreed flight path and did not enter Estonian airspace. Their route ran over the neutral waters of the Baltic Sea, more than three kilometers from Vaindloo Island.
https://t.me/DDGeopolitics/160692

Posted by: FollowsTheWay | Sep 20 2025 22:51 utc | 110

Fortuna | Sep 20 2025 12:42 utc | 16
“NYT could once be trusted.”
No. Sorry. It has always lied. It’s just “we” didn’t readily have access to any alternative.
The Charlie Kirk assassination is the JFK RFK MLK of our time.
The NYT has dutifully reported the official version.
Candace Owens is dissecting and destroying that nonsense in real time.
With pics, interviews and one hundred thousand research assistants.
Her blog had over 1 million views in 30mins.
The purveyors of narrative like the NYT cannot compete with that.
They never had to with JFK or any “op” up till now.
Which is why The Garden is reaching for internet restrictions.
This dear barflies, was the Information Golden Age. Such as it was.

Posted by: Melaleuca | Sep 20 2025 22:53 utc | 111

I can’t believe I’m going to say this and I will feel so dirty, I’ll need a hot shower.
Posted by: Suresh | Sep 20 2025 22:42 utc | 108
And so you should. Vargas is an idiot. The European rainbow flags will attack soon. The same thing will happen to them as happened to Hitler, Napoleon and the Swedes.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 20 2025 22:53 utc | 112

So the enquiring minds would like to know:
– What NATO countries are now committing units to the Odessa defense? France, UK, Poland, Germany, Holland?
– What units constitute this force?
– Are they equipped to CBW and tactical nukes?
– If true is this movement worth turning Southhampton into glass?

Posted by: tobias cole | Sep 20 2025 22:55 utc | 113

Lithuania’s defence minister …… urges a replay of Turkey’s 2015 shoot-down (an F-16 bringing down a Russian Su-24)
Before that happens, she should first notice Turkiye now.
Putin had Erdogan rush to Moscow to kiss the ring.
And this whole sloSMO, Erdogan has sought to be as neutral as is possible for a NATO member.
All the recent kerfuffle re Armenia and Azerbaijan?
Georgia is firmly “We’re staying out of it, guys”.
The problem is Poland and Lithuania have phantom muscle memory for their lost Commonwealth/ Empire.

Posted by: Melaleuca | Sep 20 2025 23:04 utc | 114

Sorry guys.
Did the refresh.
Wait.
Refresh
Wait
Refresh.
And only then reposted.
And now, it’s there twice.
~ I guess it was just that good, huh?

Posted by: Melaleuca | Sep 20 2025 23:07 utc | 115

Melaleuca | Sep 20 2025 23:07 utc | 115
I nearly done the same earlier. I hope b has found someone to set up another site like this but without the bugs.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 20 2025 23:10 utc | 116

Melaleuca | Sep 20 2025 23:04 utc | 114
The Brits and Americans moved into the east the moment the Soviet Union collapsed. The Brits especially, in each of those states, built a nationalism based on hatred of Russians.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 20 2025 23:14 utc | 117

Georgia, Hungary and Slovakia have been smart enough to avoid or shrug off the British bullshit but the rest are just British attack dogs.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 20 2025 23:20 utc | 118

More like EU want her husband to kick RF ass and hubby looks away, rolls his eyes and wispers to himself “not this shit again.”
Posted by: frithguild | Sep 20 2025 21:29 utc | 100
With 37.5 trillion debt EU wants US to knockout Russia before it goes down. Russia just needs to jab off for couple of more yesrs and it is over for the west. Power shifts to East. Next couple of years will be interesting. West has to keep up the perception of power or fence sittersike Turkey jumps.

Posted by: Michael J | Sep 20 2025 23:23 utc | 119

@ Peter AU1 | Sep 20 2025 20:32 utc | 98
i guess they are necessary to keep the propaganda machine in overdrive… both aussies and canucks suffer from the same usa imperialism… i wish i was different..

Posted by: james | Sep 20 2025 23:27 utc | 120

Remember before the sloSMO, when that British boat with a BBC muppet on board entered Russian territorial waters off Sevastopol?
And the Russians fired across its bows, literally.
And the captain of the HMS Defender, shat his pants and sailed/ motored away fast?
And the BBC muppet, not really understanding what had happened immediately went full megaphone, “Rule Britannia.. Rule Britannia! Britannia rule the waves!”.
And then the British, knowing they’d been humiliated, tried to shut him down?
If I recall, the BBC footage broadcast from onboard the vessel disappeared ….
As inconvenient footage habitually does.
Boris Johnson was PM when that happened.
I’m willing to bet BJ is behind this current Estonia-Lithuanian belligerence.

Posted by: Melaleuca | Sep 20 2025 23:28 utc | 121

I don’t think Europe’s people want war, it’s just that its corrupt leaders have got themselves locked into hairy-chest beating trying to out do each other – they have got themselves caught in a pickle they can’t get out of.
They have backed endless support for corrupt Zelensky and Ukraine so they they are stuck with saving face. Their rotten egos are so big they cannot accept failure just like the puerile Zelensky himself. All they can do is shout from the sidelines. Even trying to trigger article 4 is impotent lame rhetoric.

Posted by: George | Sep 20 2025 23:36 utc | 122

Melaleuca | Sep 20 2025 23:28 utc | 121
Back in 2021 or early 22, UK signed defence/security pacts with all the pissants bordering Russia, physically cutting off Russia from western European. The Brits are playing the Euro idiots like a violin.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 20 2025 23:36 utc | 123

At this rate by around mid 2028 US debt hits 50 trillion. Wonder where is the tipping point and what is EU plan b after.

Posted by: Michael J | Sep 20 2025 23:37 utc | 124

The Brits shot down MH17 and their SBS blew up nordstream. Russia cleaned up a few of that elite group in Odessa and that was good to hear about.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 20 2025 23:40 utc | 125

The Chinese apparently sometimes refer to the US as a monkey with a grenade.
Posted by: Roger Milbrandt | Sep 20 2025 18:40 utc | 80
Apt analogy for the regime in the US.

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Sep 20 2025 23:47 utc | 126

*** With 37.5 trillion debt EU wants US to knockout Russia before it goes down. ***
Posted by: Michael J | Sep 20 2025 23:23 utc | 119
Brigitte? Ick. That’s the problem I guess.

Posted by: frithguild | Sep 20 2025 23:53 utc | 127

It seems British strategic thinkers have no idea about the severe pain that will be inflicted upon them by the big boys of the East after US economy implodes.

Posted by: Michael J | Sep 20 2025 23:55 utc | 128

This dear barflies, was the Information Golden Age. Such as it was.
Posted by: Melaleuca | Sep 20 2025 22:53 utc | 111
More like a Gilded Age, when a nobody could become a Captain of Industry. Then humans put Gilded Age innovations to work in two world wars and internal power contests where 300 million lost their lives, mostly because humans believed their technology made them no longer human.

Posted by: frithguild | Sep 21 2025 0:01 utc | 129

Back in the Vietnam era, there was investigative journalists. Reagan and Murdoch conspired to have them shut down. The last to go were the British Guardian when they had their hard drives drilled and Australia’s ABC when Abbott told them they had to bat for the home team.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 21 2025 0:11 utc | 130

Some more “humour” for this thread –
https://kyivindependent.com/nato-must-respond-accordingly-to-russian-provocations-czech-presi
Posted by: tucenz | Sep 21 2025 0:34 utc | 152

Posted by: tucenz | Sep 21 2025 0:51 utc | 131

@ vargas | Sep 20 2025 22:33 utc | 104
Someone’s been mixing theirs and rk’s generative slop together.

Posted by: boneless | Sep 21 2025 0:53 utc | 132

Posted by: vargas | Sep 20 2025 22:33 utc | 104
Fuck off stupid bastard!
You know that you are stupid, but why do you want everybody will know it?

Posted by: Naive | Sep 21 2025 0:57 utc | 133

Posted by: Melaleuca | Sep 20 2025 23:07 utc | 115
You are being too impatient.
Typical western disease unfortunately. We see it daily.

Posted by: Naive | Sep 21 2025 1:00 utc | 134

“Trump’s messenger threatens Putin with hidden trump cards”
Source: https://news-pravda.com/world/2025/09/20/1702473.html

General Keith Kellogg, to The Telegraph newspaper.
“Putin is a realist, and if you raise the stakes, he will give up.”… You can only resist him with force, power, and more force.… Unfortunately, he thinks he’s winning this war, but he’s not. Therefore, Trump simply gives him freedom of action and time to sit down at the negotiating table, but the cards are still in our hands,” the American threatened.
[…]
“The West is winning. He has better ideas, and we are united.… This conflict is moral. This is a struggle between good and evil. Putin is evil,” the American says.

Why are yankees so stupid? It must be in the genes…
And some trumptard will support “team trump” as always.
By the way a Fench zionist accused a “leftist” of the assassination of Kirk a few minutes after the killing.

Posted by: Naive | Sep 21 2025 1:09 utc | 135

Now Estonia gets a lot of money like Poland. Hell everyone is going to find Russian drones, legit even. Because Ukraine must have so many copies and they’ll be happy to spread them around.
They wanted to do it anyways so I suppose Putins plan to invade everyone is on hold for now.

Posted by: Neofeudalfuture | Sep 21 2025 1:31 utc | 136

***
“The West is winning. This is a struggle between good and evil. Putin is evil,” the American [ General Keith Kellogg] says.
***
Why are yankees so stupid? It must be in the genes…
***
Posted by: Naive | Sep 21 2025 1:09 utc | 134
Actually, bringing Kellogg to the forefront is a genius move because Kellogg is not just that stupid, he is worse.
So Mother Kallas, the Grand Priestess of Postmodern Beaurocracies, and her orbit-ettes, sing the siren call that the RF is the boogeyman of all boogeyman who must be stopped in Ukraine, while pinning for rescue from the greatest White Knight, the US military.
Who shows up for the dream date? Kellogg, saying “fight harder – you can do it!”. I can only fantasize about the disappointed grin while wishing for a sip from the fountain of youth and perkiness.
Trump is setting up the narrative that he tried but the Eurpoean White Kight (Brigitte?) never showed up for the date.

Posted by: frithguild | Sep 21 2025 1:41 utc | 137

The real spark being planned is the quick takeover of Transnistria.
All these other noises are just misdirection.

Posted by: Suresh | Sep 21 2025 1:45 utc | 138

Unfortunately Vargas is right this time. NATO desperately wants war with Russia. NATO is blood thirsty and it will not end short of NATO war against Russia.
Of course their actions will lead to WW3! They know it and that’s their plan. Putin should put the 2 together.
Why?
NATO can’t fight China without very nasty consequences. If Russia remained powerful, devastated European NATO countries will be taken over by Russia. At least this is how NATO thinks.
The other is resources. Rather foolish sections of Europe think they can get Russian resources if it can defeat Russia in war.
The third reason is BRICS+ which is having a tangible impact on the US and the EU. Their printed paper will become less valuable in the near future and it was Russia that initiated it.
Fourth is other hotspots that can’t be destroyed due to Russian influence.
However I don’t think Russia is truly apprehensive of what’s going on. If crabs were put to boiling water they try to crawl out and release dirt into the water. But if they were put to lukewarm water and slowly boiled to boiling point, they remain in it until they are slowly paralyzed and turned into soup.
Russia and Belarus should be ready to launch preemptive nuclear strikes against UK, France, Poland, Turkey, Germany, Netherlands at very short notice using hundreds of tactical nukes following a nuclear EMP explosion over Europe that disables their electronic and electrical systems.
In addition to strategic nukes, Russia should deploy tactical nukes in UUVs to bust ALL NATO ports in Europe cutting them off from cross Atlantic support. Submersibles should have taken their positions by now to bust submarine cable hubs when required.
These NATO pieces will not hesitate a second to launch preemptive STRATEGIC nuclear strikes against Russia any day now following a massive (more than 20,000 simultaneously) drone incursion into western Russia.
NATO hate against Russia and China is far greater than their fear of WW3. And as China rises rapidly, they are running out of time.

Posted by: Jason | Sep 21 2025 1:54 utc | 139

The real spark being planned is the quick takeover of Transnistria.
All these other noises are just misdirection.
Posted by: Suresh | Sep 21 2025 1:45 utc | 137
Any attempt on Transnistria and Odessa will be breached in a flash.
Wouldn’t Kaliningrad make better target?

Posted by: Michael J | Sep 21 2025 1:58 utc | 140

Posted by: Fortuna | Sep 20 2025 12:42 utc | 16
“Sad what has happened to The NY Times. THEY USED TO BE A NEWSPAPER YOU COULD TRUST TO TELL THE TRUTH.”
Well, no.
They have always been one of the voices of empire, it’s just that people are finally waking up en masse to the lies and narrative management.

Posted by: Jon_in_AU | Sep 21 2025 2:10 utc | 141

Cornflakes telling the Euros to go harder. The Americans are outa there. They are more intent on grabbing Venezuelan oil, knocking out Iran and building a Trump tower on the Gaza sea shore.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 21 2025 2:45 utc | 142

Jason | Sep 21 2025 1:54 utc | 138
Nukem, you’re as dumb as that Vargas idiot. Just sit back and watch the great game. You are not a player.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 21 2025 3:03 utc | 143

@ Peter AU1 | Sep 21 2025 3:03 utc | 142
don’t forget to include the poster john who keeps on posting the ”what would have happened in 2014 if russia had done this?” post of his..

Posted by: james | Sep 21 2025 3:42 utc | 144

lots of money going into it though..
Posted by: james | Sep 20 2025 20:22 utc | 95
—
Elon Musk exists to force depreciating assets down creditors’ throats.

Posted by: too scents | Sep 21 2025 3:46 utc | 145

Wenn der Westen (außerhalb der Ukraine) Krieg gegen Russland führen könnte, hätte er das schon vor drei Jahren gemacht.
If the West (outside of Ukraine) could wage war against Russia, it would have done so three years ago.

Posted by: Plexiglas | Sep 21 2025 4:00 utc | 146

too scents | Sep 21 2025 3:46 utc | 144
Musk is pentagon. Pentagon money, Ukraine stem. Though Russia whacked his STEM when they tested their new missile.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 21 2025 4:01 utc | 147

Sliding towards?!?
We are already deep into WWIII. The situation is akin to mid 1939, with everything but formal open hostilities already launched.

Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Sep 21 2025 4:13 utc | 148

138/ “Unfortunately Vargas is right this time. NATO desperately wants war with Russia.”
A lot of hot air from old farts who believe they still matter. Do you know what all those eurotards love above all? Their comfort, their position, their government spending on their meals, fine wines, expensive restaurants, golden pensions and so on.
And they are going to end all this on day 1 of a hot war with Russia when “hazelnuts” take out euro refineries and euro power plants and distribution network and that a few NPP run out of cooling because the underpaid immigrant doing the maintenance ran back to his non-radioactive shithole? Bollocks.
The eurotards are just posturing so they get a seat at the negotiation table (like keeping the 300 billion euros belonging to Russia).
Doing war with Russia when your steel plants belong to Indians, your drone parts come from China, your uranium from Africa and all your petrol from overseas… And a 3-day stock of ammo… What a joke.
All the euro spending on military gear is to shoot INTERNAL obsolete useless euroeaters who will refuse digital traceable money and complete digital traceable ID. Nothing to do with Russia… The top 10% have put the bottom obsolete 90% on the menu… Time to wake up if you live in the “garden”.

Posted by: Asian Frog | Sep 21 2025 4:24 utc | 149

Biswapriya Purkayast | Sep 21 2025 4:13 utc | 147
Here’s a blast from MoA’s past! Good to see you still check in occasionally.

Posted by: S.P. Korolev | Sep 21 2025 4:41 utc | 150

Transnistria is not Russia proper, Russian troops stationed there are peacekeepers.
Moldova considers their presence as illegitimate.
The Brits and Romania are massing forces.
The Atlantic Forum had an article that claims to make Moldova a safer and more prosperous country, NATO has crucial role supporting their partner at risk from big bad bear.

Posted by: Suresh | Sep 21 2025 4:43 utc | 151

Posted by: Saracene’s Head | Sep 20 2025 13:52 utc | 27
ultimate target is Trump : forcing him to return to the Biden course. Because he can’t completely abandon Europe (without Europe the US is almost totally isolated) and thus ultimately he is vulnerable to a make or break blackmail.
<= I can tell you if Trump were to cause the USA to abandon Europe Americans would be ecstatic, Trump might be appointed king instead of President. For Americans Europe has never been anything but a giant drain on their financial capacity and place for Americans to bleed and a continuous, unending source of new problems.
Posted by: Genesis | Sep 20 2025 17:39 utc | 70
How should Russia react now? How would you react in Putin's shoes, assuming responsibility for millions of Russians, but also assuming total superiority, or at least a good chance?
<=If I were Putin I would be asking why should Russia not take out the war mongering Baltic states, Finland, Sweden and Denmark ?
I would be thinking if Russia did take these states out, there would be many thousands less Europeans to worry about and NATO preparation for war behind the backs of Russia, would end, NATO would have no choice but to declare war on Russia.. and before they could, I, Putin, would take out London, Paris, and much of Poland and multiple many military targets around Europe.. without touching a single USA asset..
Mind you, I am not Putin, and I am not Russian, or even pro Russia but that is how I see what must be going through Putin's mind.

Posted by: snake | Sep 21 2025 4:45 utc | 152

Hey Mr A Frog. Those Euro eaters can eat tofu, with a dash of soy sauce. USA has a stockpile of soybeans because China prefers to buy from Brasil.
Soy beans make good asphalt so Blackrort can also use to build new roads in Ukraine
On the food thingy, Starbucks has closed Russian outlets, but now also closing in China. No political influence involved. Chinese love their coffee and find local coffee shops have better coffee than Starbucks. Probably a tad cheaper too.
Brazil produces about 40% of world soy beans while USA 30%. Brasil price cheaper than USA and quality good. Other Sth American countries also want to sell to China.
Soy latte for you regulars at the bar?

Posted by: Bingo | Sep 21 2025 4:49 utc | 153

Chinese love their coffee and find local coffee shops have better coffee than Starbucks. Probably a tad cheaper too.

Any basic espresso machine makes better coffee than Starbucks … a simple pod-based machine from the supermarket makes better coffee.
Even Ronald McDonald’s makes better coffee than Starbucks … and I don’t understand how that can be possible.

Posted by: Tel | Sep 21 2025 5:28 utc | 154

I can tell you if Trump were to cause the USA to abandon Europe Americans would be ecstatic, Trump might be appointed king instead of President. For Americans Europe has never been anything but a giant drain on their financial capacity and place for Americans to bleed and a continuous, unending source of new problems.

Posted by: snake | Sep 21 2025 4:45 utc | 151
I wonder if those same USians are remotely aware that the USA is responsible for the conflict in Ukraine that transpired in 2014. Otherwise, who stood to benefit from such a conflict? Were the likes of Victoria Nuland who provoked it European?
With all due respect, the narrative of the US being dragged into European affairs post-WWII, as opposed to the other way around, only reinforces my metaphorical view of the USA as the spoiled, entitled brat that breaks a window and claims he/she didn’t do it. It doesn’t help when the USA is surrounded by two whole oceans.

Posted by: Digby | Sep 21 2025 5:30 utc | 155

Russia is loosing in Ukraine and hopefully will be cured, as it has been without war only two years after the collapse of Soviet Union. In every war, there are only loosers.

Posted by: Putin on the Rich | Sep 21 2025 5:43 utc | 156

Jesus christ at least learn to write properly. In the age of LLMs there is no excuse. Its ‘loser’, by the way, ‘looser’ might describe a garment, or a noose.
Now shush, adults are talking. Shouldn’t you be sucking off aome nazis or something?

Posted by: Doctor Eleven | Sep 21 2025 5:51 utc | 157

Yes this is not hysteria, it looks like it but it is something more/else.
I think we need to create a new word: psychohysteria (feel free to insert the sound of metal riff when you read it lol, or —maybe better— a screech of avant-garde jazz!).
My suggested meaning/definition of psychohysteria is that it is a psychopathic attempt to induce hysteria in others (for whatever reason).
That is what we are seeing and have observed for many years.
Estonia etc. is psychohysteric 🙂
Now that we have named it we can kill it and take its power 😛 (uh-oh) 😀

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Sep 21 2025 6:00 utc | 158

.. Starbucks closes in China..
Bingo | Sep 21 2025 4:49 utc | 152
There was a time when British drank tea while Spanish drank coffee and tea got spilled in Boston harbour…opium spilled elsewhere.
Ironic Brit’s East India Company helped build the Empire. It’s kind of apropos this period of history may now to be turned on its head. China wisely has successfully grown it’s own coffee since late 1980’s

Posted by: Mercury | Sep 21 2025 6:08 utc | 159

A lot of these warmongers of the Baltic states or from the European bureaucracy are female. In general I cannot understand the ‘reasoning’ of so called Europe elite from a rational point of view. It is like seeing a bunch of chickens without a head running around. I think this is related to the general feminisation of society. Not only are there to many woman in a powerful position but the male politicians can only get elected if they are feminised. In general things like the green agenda, immigration, etc.. are all based on ‘female logic’. People think that behind this there is hidden agenda, some rational evil logic. It is not, it is because the policy makers really think as such. It is all emotional thinking. We can only get rid of this by a reality chock, caused by some real confrontation that hurts.
Bureaucracies have also become to powerful. But bureaucrats need to suppress there own thinking, they can only follow rules. Confronted with issues for which there are no rules they no longer know what to do. The process of becoming a bureaucrat is a feminisation process.

Posted by: hubert | Sep 21 2025 6:13 utc | 160

Posted by: hubert | Sep 21 2025 6:13 utc | 160
“A lot of these warmongers of the Baltic states or from the European bureaucracy are female.”
It started with using females as spokespeople by government and big corporates, as they do acheive a slightly higher level of public trust than males in polling.
It has grown from there, to the stage now where women in politics that show undying loyalty to empire and a desire to be as brutalist as Thatcher get promoted to positions of power (see: Von der Leyen, Kallas, and Baerbock as current examples).
I’d like to live in a world that has far more equal input from all, but not if it involves women in politics just trying to prove that they can be as heartlessly evil as their male counterparts. That isn’t progress.
It’s a hard conversation to have with people. I got into an argument with a friend who was all for Hilary in the 2016 election (I told her that both choices were miserably shithouse), and she would refuse to hear anything bad about her. Apparently for her, Hilary being female was enough to attract her support.
In short, most male leaders are absolute assholes, but replacing them with females who are absolute assholes won’t improve our lives.

Posted by: Jon_in_AU | Sep 21 2025 7:27 utc | 161

Posted by: hubert | Sep 21 2025 6:13 utc | 160
“A lot of these warmongers of the Baltic states or from the European bureaucracy are female.”
It started with using females as spokespeople by government and big corporates, as they do acheive a slightly higher level of public trust than males in polling.
It has grown from there, to the stage now where women in politics that show undying loyalty to empire and a desire to be as brutalist as Thatcher get promoted to positions of power (see: Von der Leyen, Kallas, and Baerbock as current examples).
I’d like to live in a world that has far more equal input from all, but not if it involves women in politics just trying to prove that they can be as heartlessly evil as their male counterparts. That isn’t progress.
It’s a hard conversation to have with people. I got into an argument with a friend who was all for Hilary in the 2016 election (I told her that both choices were miserably shithouse), and she would refuse to hear anything bad about her. Apparently for her, Hilary being female was enough to attract her support.
In short, most male leaders are absolute assholes, but replacing them with females who are absolute assholes won’t improve our lives.

Posted by: Jon_in_AU | Sep 21 2025 7:29 utc | 162

Jon in AU, yes hard conversations.
January 23rd, 3 days in office Obama accepted CIA director Michael Hayden’s instruction to strike al-Qaeda and Taliban commanders near Karez Kot, Waziristan Pakistan (illegally). Three Hellfire missiles killed Fifteen people including a scholarship 21 year old student and a 7 year old child all died in that attack.
Until that moment he was a Nobel prize winning first Black president of peace that could do no wrong.
Killerly learnt covert ratline arms from Bosnian Serb Killer Bill, then put it good effect taking Libyan Army weapons → Syria via Turkey with Benghazi Ambassador and ops team sacrifices.
Bibi is right (supa-sparta speech) – it will be very expensive to take back control of the media, though it’s happening….

Posted by: Mercury | Sep 21 2025 8:13 utc | 163

Posted by: snake | Sep 21 2025 4:45 utc | 152
It’s not about how americans feel about Europe. It’s about what Europe is for the US. The US hegemony has been build on its control of Europe after 2nd WW. Europe is essential in economic and financial terms, it provides a diplomatic crowd of supporters, a large media support in a variety of languages that multiplies US soft power.
But of course with defeat in Ukraine it comes now with an immense military cost.
Trump, in my mind, is trying to cut those costs. He hopped (Kellogg plan) to do so securing a semi diplomatic victory. It failed. And now he is trying to force Europe to accept that defat. But he cannot risk rupture.
Which is why Europeans can create and maintain the specter of Russian aggression very hot. The cost of bailing out of Europe being so high, they gamble Trump will have to stick back in.
Of course if their gamble goes too far, face with WW3, Trump may calculate that the gains in Europe are not worth the probability of annihilation.

Posted by: Saracene’s Head | Sep 21 2025 9:16 utc | 164

The Pentagon intends to stop providing security assistance to the Baltic countries and all NATO member states bordering Russia — Reuters
According to the publication, American officials made the corresponding statement to European diplomats during a meeting at the Pentagon at the end of August.
“At the end of August, Pentagon representatives met with a group of European diplomats and delivered a tough message: the US plans to stop part of the security assistance to Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and all NATO members bordering Russia,” Reuters reports.
It is reported that David Baker, a representative of the US military department, told those gathered about the need for Europe to reduce its dependence on the US. Under the Trump administration, the US military will focus on other priorities, such as protecting the country’s territory.

https://t.me/Slavyangrad/141910
Oh, good so the occupiers will be leaving Norway then.
Except they are lying as always.

Posted by: Norwegian | Sep 21 2025 9:17 utc | 165

Posted by: Norwegian | Sep 21 2025 9:17 utc | 164
Cuck EUropeans won’t abandon Nato even if Nato (US) abandons them.
My guess is the Brits are playing in the Baltics causing false flags. Yankees know this and periodically have to remind Baltlets/Brits that if they get into trouble they are on their own. But without overtly ending Nato.
USA still has boatloads of EU weapon orders, but they can’t be delivered either until after many, many years. Because of huge financial rewards US won’t overtly end Nato.

Posted by: unimperator | Sep 21 2025 9:45 utc | 166

Another NY Times article about the Russian drones in Poland incident:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/world/europe/poland-drones-russia-nato.html
They have worked hard to think up a credible story. It goes thus: the drones were fired from near the three country point where Russia borders Belarus and Ukraine. The drones flew over Northern Ukraine. They had extra fuel tanks to fly as far as they did.
The article contains a contradiction. At one point is says that three drones contained explosives:
More than 20 drones entered Polish air space, most of them foam dummies that floated to the ground when they ran out of fuel. Three Shahed-style armed drones like the ones that menace Ukraine nightly were shot down, Polish officials said.
But later is says that all drones were unarmed:
In Poland, a country technically at peace, the operation was more surgical. Before opening fire, protocol dictated that pilots obtained visual confirmation that the objects were hostile. General Klisz explained that he did not want to use multimillion-dollar equipment to shoot down a glider or a balloon, which he said smugglers from Belarus sometimes used to cross the border. He also had to avoid collateral damage.
In the end, he said, he ordered his forces to shoot down only a few drones. Most, he said, were dummies constructed of foam and intended for use in Ukraine to throw off air defenses. The ones shot down, he said, more closely resembled Shahed attack drones, which are made of metal and appear different on radar than the dummies.
The drones shot down had a trajectory indicating they might be headed to the Rzeszow airport, near the Ukraine border, the Polish official with knowledge of the military action said. The airport is heavily protected by air defense systems, including Patriots, because it serves flights delivering foreign armaments destined for the front. The official speculated that Russia had wanted to test the airport’s defenses. In the end, only the Patriot systems’ radars were used, not its missiles, which are more costly than aircraft-fired missiles and would have caused much more damage had they gone awry.

Posted by: Wim | Sep 21 2025 9:51 utc | 167

Sigh … If vargas is right twice a day I couldn’t care less.
Sorry about that. What I wanted to say is that there seems to be a dispute about that tiny island in the Baltic sea. Estonia seems to claim, unilaterally, that it’s their protected territory. Not agreed upon internationally because if it were, nobody could pass through or over the Baltic sea without offending Estonia. Something like that. (Unfortunately, no sources, just an impression misc reading yesterday.)

Posted by: Avtonom | Sep 21 2025 9:56 utc | 168

Posted by: Wim | Sep 21 2025 9:51 utc | 166
Anyone believing that must be braindead.
At least one AIM-120 malfunctioned and landed on a farm building. Even the detonator failed on the missile after hitting the building.
There is no evidence any drone was shot down from an aircraft. There are visual evidence of one or two drones, which may have been planted on the field.

Posted by: unimperator | Sep 21 2025 9:56 utc | 169

@Posted by: robin | Sep 20 2025 13:52 utc | 26
Silly to go measure this arbitrary drawn line in some article, from the Estonian defense of all people, as fact.
The bold headline: “Chart shows Russian jets’ 12-minute violation of Estonian airspace” is laughable.
It is based on nothing, no data or link is provided.
They can’t even spell ‘violation’
The Gulf of Finland being quite narrow, has no other way for Russian ships and planes to pass if not through Estonian or Finnish space.
That is not ‘violating’ anything.
They have a legal right of passage, regulated by the UN.
If they have a problem with that they should take it up with them and show some proof, not this little drawing.
There is also no such thing as “NATO airspace”
All this is just more invented BS because they want Russia to lose access to the Baltic Sea, they already tried before with more baseless accusations.
And these clowns think NATO can close the Baltic Sea.
If anything, it’s Russia that should close it to NATO states, since these terrorists blew up their Nordstream pipeline.

Posted by: Ed Bernays | Sep 21 2025 10:11 utc | 170

It seems like the two token UK typhoon planes fly out from UK to Poland then return the next morning …..

Posted by: Jo | Sep 21 2025 10:22 utc | 171

Some heavy projection going on again.

🇫🇮 President of Finland: Russia “has no right to speak”
Alexander Stubb said in an interview with The Guardian that the EU Russia does not intend to take Moscow’s EU’s position into account when developing “security guarantees” for Kiev.
📝 According to the Finnish president, Russia EU “has absolutely no right to speak on the sovereign decisions of an independent national state.”
📝 He clarified that the guarantees will come into effect only after a peace deal, but Europe Russia is ready for escalation in case of a direct military confrontation with the Russian Federation EU. “The deterrent factor must be realistic, and for that it must be strong.”
❗️ Recall that not long ago in Helsinki they complained that the break with Moscow seriously hit the Finnish economy.
<a href="https://x.com/Zlatti_71/status/1969513259415060623

“>https://x.com/Zlatti_71/status/1969513259415060623

Posted by: unimperator | Sep 21 2025 10:51 utc | 172

@ Ed Bernays | Sep 21 2025 10:11 utc | 169
Perhaps I misunderstood your original post, but it sounded like you were saying it was near impossible that mig 31s could overfly Estonian airspace for a whole 12 minutes. That map shows that it is in fact possible. It also suggests that there is an international waters channel between Estonian and Finnish waters.

Posted by: robin | Sep 21 2025 10:52 utc | 173

Posted by: hubert | Sep 21 2025 6:13 utc | 160
“A lot of these warmongers of the Baltic states or from the European bureaucracy are female.”
If you want to install a pawn who will do your bidding – for example spreading NATO propaganda – it helps if that person has some intrinsic positive properties like being female. Given the public goal of 50% female leaders there is always a shortage of them so you will need good arguments to reject them. Put the NATO propaganda apparatus behind their candidacy and they are hard to beat.

Posted by: Wim | Sep 21 2025 10:57 utc | 174

Pearl clutching. Divaish. Pantomime dames.
It’s actually quiet funny. 🤣
Look forward to Medvedev and Maria’s take.
Posted by: DunGroanin | Sep 20 2025 20:29 utc | 96
It’s amusing on one scale.
However these emotionally incontinent dumbfucks have destroyed Europe socially and economically.
They fo not expect or intend to have to deal with consequences.
Retard kabuki theater.
With potentially dreadful consequences.

Posted by: jpc | Sep 21 2025 11:04 utc | 175

Posted by: nevetz | Sep 20 2025 16:07 utc | 52 — and others

Find your favorite AI and ask the following. Here is what YOU.COM said.
Is it possible to fly the length of the Baltic Sea without passing into the airspace of a NATO country?
Answer:
Flying the length of the Baltic Sea without entering NATO airspace is not possible.

Here is a link to a picture of the stupid island. Of course, this is complete Russian propaganda. Sarcasm. It is hard to underestimate the lies of the Western Media. Truth!
<a href="https://news-pravda.com/world/2025/09/20/1702705.html

“>https://news-pravda.com/world/2025/09/20/1702705.html
How can anyone believe in LLM/AI?
Which barfly takes the LLM answer at face value?
what do YOU understand/ mean with the length of the Baltic Sea ?
are you sure that the LLM catch your meaning about the length of the Baltic Sea?
i’m sure you mean the north-south direction , right ? 🙂
next is the question about flightpath –> do you mean straight-line or is zick-zack allowed ?
How can civil/commercial flights be operated from Russia/Belarus to Kaliningrad?

Posted by: ghiwen | Sep 21 2025 11:16 utc | 176

At the end of the day, all this posturing by the west is really about the Arctic Circle, of which Russia controls about 50% due to its massively long border. Canada is next, then Greenland and Alaska. Why do you think trump wanted to buy greenland.

Posted by: HERMIUS | Sep 21 2025 11:20 utc | 177

Unfortunately Vargas is right this time. NATO desperately wants war with Russia. NATO is blood thirsty and it will not end short of NATO war against Russia.
Of course their actions will lead to WW3! They know it and that’s their plan. Putin should put the 2 together.
Posted by: Jason | Sep 21 2025 1:54 utc | 139

Blablablabla… WW3? LOL! The europeans are cowards. No way they will start an open war against Russia. When they send “instructors” and those are killed, the corpses are sent back and buried secretely. And the families are paid to keep silence. It is enough to remember Georgelin killed to have come too close to the front and said to have died from a fall while hiking in the mountain.
The yankees want to repeat the scenario of the WW2, that is to stay away while making profit of this regional war by destroying the European countries. Remember: nazi Germany could go to war thanks to the yankee support (Standard Oil, Ford, banks, etc.). Like now nazi Ukraine could go to war thanks to the same. Why not repeating a plan which worked so well?
It is not a WW, because other than supplying weapons the yankees will stay out of it, and the rest of the world too. So we are left with an European regional war.
Of course the europeans are thinking that they alone are the world.

Posted by: Naive | Sep 21 2025 11:23 utc | 178

Posted by: Saracene’s Head | Sep 21 2025 9:16 utc | 163
It’s not about how americans feel about Europe.
<=I agree AFAE USA is concerned Trump is trying to get the USA to cut the cost of European dependency accepting whatever losses [European diplomatic and media support] and in that I applause Trump. But the USA is quite different from the country it governs.
The mind set of Americans has for many, many moons, since 1776, been to get the British, European and all foreign interest out of America, out of USA politics and out of sight and out of mind.
Without British propaganda technology the USA could never have made either Russia or China into any kind of a threat to the American people.
Without the British lobby and its propaganda technology the USA would never have gotten the 16th amendment passed, the Federal reserve established, or Americans to travel to Europe to be killed in either WWI or WWII. Without British propaganda technology Americans will never support Europe in wwIII. Americans have little to no say in what the USA does in far away lands, including Europe. It is this no say problem that I was addressing when I said:
“I can tell you if Trump were to cause the USA to abandon Europe Americans would be ecstatic, Trump might be appointed king instead of President. For Americans Europe has never been anything but a giant drain on their financial capacity and place for Americans to bleed and a continuous, unending source of new problems. ”
Most Americans are all in with cutting those costs.. both lost dollar cost and lost blood cost. Americans want every military base and tax payer funded commercial and NGO enterprise in Europe shut down, cut off from US dollar funding (let Europe pay), and all USA funded military and commercial activities in foreign places returned to America (let Europe defend itself or better let Europe stop starting wars). Let wall street fight its own battles when its “promoted leaches invest in or start operations in foreign lands.
Its indirectly about extracting monopoly powers now in global private hands back into open-access competitive space in American industry and Markets. The “too big to fail” have for far too long controlled the politics at the USA. This is about MAGA and about killing off any commitment to globalization.
I believe MAGA is here to stay.. the MAGA masses have developed into a strong force, armed with “America only” objectives. I believe MAGA will likely persist w/or without Presidential leadership.

Posted by: snake | Sep 21 2025 11:29 utc | 179

“Wim” ( Sep 21 2025 9:51 utc | 166):
They keep saying strange stuff don’t they 🙂
Personally I don’t get what the point would be in (allegedly) having decoys that don’t look the same on radar as the real thing.
Especially not when their adversary systems uses radar to identify them as targets… forces me to think the NYT fairytale was “written” by a LLM. Automated brainrot.
(And if they don’t look the same on radar they likely don’t look the same in thermal or visually either; if would be nice and should be easy to achieve all three).
Since they (NATO/NYT/etc.) keep insisting on making the nonsensical type of weird claims that made me start to ignore them over a decade ago the more they say the more I’m starting to think there were no drones at all and that even their images of crashed drones are entirely fake and generated on a computer.
Not because I have any proof but because they just never can’t stop themselves from spouting what seems like total rubbish.
I could be wrong but by this point and after so many years I just don’t care. Despite its flaws (known and unknown) I will support Russia, and doubly so against NATO.

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Sep 21 2025 11:39 utc | 180

re: England and tea.
The Chinese all drank tea when the English showed up there. The English thought that was cool so they stole tea plants and tried growing it elsewhere in their empire.
But the Chinese had a secret processing technique to prevent the tea leaves from oxidizing, resulting in green tea. By Chinese standards the tea the English produce was spoiled and undrinkable. The English didn’t know any better and drank it anyway, convincing themselves it was a sophisticated beverage. To this day they remain ignorant of the fact they drink spoiled tea.
This knowledge provides me smug amusement whenever I must associate with snooty sLimeys with their bad teeth and crappy tea.

Posted by: William Gruff | Sep 21 2025 11:39 utc | 181

Posted by: ld | Sep 20 2025 16:19 utc | 55
Excellent post, thanks.

Posted by: canuk | Sep 21 2025 11:42 utc | 182

OT I know but hmm… mythbusting?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pu'er_tea
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compressed_tea
I’m not a tea or coffee guy myself, except for Japanese style cold green tea such as Oi Ocha and similar.
Cat’s tongue and sweet tooth 🙂 (I also like Korean aloe vera beverages which strangely seem similar even though they’re not).

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Sep 21 2025 12:51 utc | 183

Posted by: robin | Sep 21 2025 10:52 utc | 173
Well yes I ment this little island if you could call it that.
This terrible map also grossly misrepresents the size of the international waters there. When counting 12 nautical miles of territorial water on both sides it doesn’t leave much space.
And simply impossible to pass if you would count a 12 mile radius from a tiny rock located nearly in the middle of the gulf.
That is really done with malice.
Most people wouldn’t have a clue about the distances, lay out of this territory or shipping/fly routes, laws and agreements.
All they hear is Russia deliberately invaded their airspace.

Posted by: Ed Bernays | Sep 21 2025 13:20 utc | 184

Sunny Runny Burger @183:
I like pu’er tea (compressed tea) (I have hundreds of kilos in carefully climate controlled storage since like certain alcoholic beverages it can improve with age if storage is properly managed), but it isn’t spoiled “black tea” either. As with other green teas, pu’er is produced with a process that was secret when the sLimeys were developing their primitive barbarian version of tea culture.
Yes, East Asians have a large number of different kinds of tea, much of it differing in how the leaves are processed. For example, pu’er is categorized by being force fermented or naturally fermented, by year of harvest, which mountain the leaves were grown on, which side of that mountain they were grown on, what time of day the leaves were picked, and so on. They don’t just pick the leaves and bag them up for shipment like the English corporations did.
Come to think of it, perhaps tea is why the sLimeys hate the Chinese so much. Finding out long after they thought England’s tea culture was the most refined in the world that they have all along been drinking tea made from what the Chinese would consider lawn clippings caused their collective butts to hurt. “I like it this way!” the sLimys petulantly claim while adding more sugar and milk.

Posted by: William Gruff | Sep 21 2025 14:12 utc | 185

@William Gruff on tea culture

“I like it this way!” the sLimys petulantly claim while adding more sugar and milk.

Lol, well spotted. But I see no need to become snobbish about this. A lapsang souchong with sugar and cream makes for a nice breakfast, which I enjoyed during my student days when I had to go to an early lecture through the Hamburg shitweather. I love intentionally overly long steeped black tea as a basis for iced tea with lemon and just a hint of sweet (as I’ve picked up in California). I am currently drinking a bag of Aldi brand Ostfriesentee (a broken blend similar to English Breakfast) and I like it. I say this as someone who actually favours super-thin, almost effete sorts such as Ding Gu Da Fang or high-class Oolong teas.

Posted by: persiflo | Sep 21 2025 14:41 utc | 186

Posted by: robin | Sep 20 2025 13:52 utc | 26

By the way, I believe that Vaindloo does in fact lie within Estonian territorial water.

True but IRRELEVANT and MISLEADING.
“Vindaloo” Island is Estonian, so surrounding waters are indeed its territorial waters.
BUT: The Gulf of Finland is an “international waterway.” This means that under long-established international law, territorial water rights may NOT be asserted where – as here – the effect would be to cut off a maritime state – Russia proper – from access to international waters. Substantially the same rules govern the use of airspace.
There are also long-standing understandings to the same effect going back to the breakup of the Soviet Union.

Posted by: Pacific Observer | Sep 21 2025 15:47 utc | 187

Posted by: persiflo | Sep 21 2025 14:41 utc | 186
Hate to rain on the tea party but teabags have microplastics use loose tea (1).
1. According to a recent study, depending on sex and age, people consume between 39 000 and 52 000 particles of microplastic (MP) annually1. Thousands of plastic compounds are used across the world today, and of those, more than 20% have been classified by the European Union as being of concern due to their persistence, accumulation in human fatty tissues, and/or toxicity, while 39% have not been linked to any negative health effects2. MP pollution poses a health concern. The more plastic created, the more the subsequent generation will have to endure it is unknowable impacts, which might pose an irreparable health danger. Despite the fact that research has mostly concentrated on a small number of plastic compounds, a wide variety of health conditions, including endocrine disruption, reproductive toxicity, cancer risk, problems with metabolism and nutrition, and interference with neurodevelopment, are also a concern2.
Due to the potential health risks and negative impacts on the environment, the use of MPs in tea bags and other products is a major issue. In spite of the material’s nonbiodegradability, polypropylene is frequently used in manufacturing tea bags. Given that tea bags are subjected to high temperatures during the brewing process, it is concerning that certain branded teas are offered in tea bags made from allegedly ‘food grade’ polymers, such as nylon3. In tea bags additionally available are fluorine compounds, arsenic, radium salt, aluminum, copper, lead, mercury, cadmium, barium, nitrates, and many more4. So you are sipping tea and consuming these dangerous substances in the same bag4. Tea bag plastics, which can take hundreds of years to decompose in nature, may fragment into particles that range in size from 1 µm to 5 mm, or MPs4. Instead of utilizing the conventional paper tea bags, tea makers now use plastic ones5. This is concerning since water is regularly heated to 95°C or more while making tea, and even ‘food grade’ plastics can break down or release harmful materials when heated over 40°C5. People who drink tea frequently are continually dosing themselves with billions of plastic particles, some of which may be tiny enough to enter human cells. Most paper tea bags also have plastic fibers used in the sealant in addition to these nylon and PET plastic tea bags. Even paper tea bags have an unsettling substance called epichlorohydrin added to them in order to keep them from bursting. According to a recent study, each cup of tea produced by one plastic tea bag steeped at brewing temperature included roughly 11.6 billion MPs and 3.1 billion nanoplastics (NPs)6. Around 96% of the tea sold in the UK market is packaged in tea bags, according to Jha et al 7. According to Xu et al.8 study six tea brands were tested, and it was found that four of them included polypropylene in varying amounts, one was nearly entirely composed of nylon, and the sixth was thought to be biodegradable and free of any plastic residue. It was also discovered that contact to hot water caused chemical alterations, which raises the issue of what standards may be used to categorize MPs as they degrade8. The main goal was to precisely estimate the abundance of MPs for human consumption in order to educate policy and play a significant role in affecting industry and public opinion8. There are rising worries over the human exposure to MPs8. The significance of determining the plastic to nonplastic ratio was severely examined in this work, and it was highlighted that a thorough spectrum analysis was required 8.
Prior studies on animals have demonstrated that intestinal oxidative and inflammatory imbalance was brought on by exposure to NPs and MPs.9 Additionally, malabsorption brought on by weakness and/or undernutrition can result from the erosion of the gut’s mucosa that results in epithelial impermeability9. In addition, the effects of chemicals on the human gut flora are poorly known. MPs include additives, adsorb pollutants, irritants, and the development of bacterial pathogens may occur on their surface, making them extremely dangerous to consume, whether purposely or accidentally9. This impairs the body’s defensive system and makes it susceptible to diseases. Additionally, they carry intestinal toxins that disrupt intestinal processes and upset the balance of the organisms in the gut, perhaps setting the stage for the emergence of long-term immune system problems9. A multiendpoint toxicological investigation on colorectal cancer cell lines revealed higher absorption and intracellular accumulation of MP and NP particles with regard to gastrointestinal cancer10. Due to the numerous negative consequences of tea bags, tea aficionados should refrain from using single-use tea bags in favor of loose leaf teas poured in a glass, metal, or ceramic strainer in addition to demanding that tea firms switch to plastic-free packaging. Making the move from tea bags to loose leaf tea is among the simplest strategies to prevent consuming MPs in tea. Using loose leaf tea instead of tea bags, which may contain MPs, is a wonderful way to experience traditional tea brewing techniques. Utilizing instant tea is the final option. As an alternative to conventional tea brewing, instant tea is a terrific option. To avoid all of these issues, one can also utilize a cloth-based tea bag.
To present, the health consequences of ingesting MPs and NPs on people are unclear, but the absence of evidence of toxicity does not imply safety, but sublethal effects found in other species (eg, algae, zooplankton, fish, mice) provide an early warning of both environmental danger and potential human health risk. Future studies should investigate how MPs are released from plastic items, particularly those that are heated during processing, like tea bags. Therefore, research that seek to identify the MP’s origins are subsidies to better understand the different exposure paths to these pollutants, even though we have not obtained conclusive evidence on their effects.
Ethical approval
Not applicable.
Sources of funding
None.
Author’s contribution
All authors contributed in conception of study, major drafting of work, literature search, final approval, and agreeing to the accuracy of work.
Conflicts of interest
None.
Research registration unique identifying number (UIN)
None.
Guarantor
Tooba Ali, Ashna Habib, Fiza Muskan, Sadia Mumtaz, Ramsha Shams.
Footnotes
Sponsorships or competing interests that may be relevant to content are disclosed at the end of this article.
Published online 24 March 2023
Contributor Information
Tooba Ali, Email: toobaali455@gmail.com.
Ashna Habib, Email: ashnahabib937@gmail.com.
Fiza Muskan, Email: fizamuskan99@gmail.com.
Sadia Mumtaz, Email: sadiamumtaz1711@gmail.com.
Ramsha Shams, Email: ramshakharbey3@gmail.com.
References
1. Cox KD, Covernton GA, Davies HL, et al. Human consumption of microplastics. Environ Sci Technol 2019;53:7068–7074. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
2. Goodes LM, Wong EVS, Alex J, et al. A scoping review protocol on in vivo human plastic exposure and health impacts. Syst Rev 2022;11:137. 10.1186/s13643-022-02010-6 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
3. Tsochatzis ED, Alberto Lopes J, Kappenstein O, et al. Quantification of PET cyclic and linear oligomers in teabags by a validated LC-MS method – in silico toxicity assessment and consumer’s exposure. Food Chem 2020;317:126427. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
4. The Express Tribune. Study finds teabag contains nearly 13,000 microplastic particles. The Express Tribune. 2022. Accessed September 16, 2022. https://tribune.com.pk/story/2360293/study-finds-single-teabag-contains-nearly-13000-microplastic-particles .
5. Bach C, Dauchy X, Severin I, et al. Effect of temperature on the release of intentionally and non-intentionally added substances from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles into water: chemical analysis and potential toxicity. Food Chem 2013;139:672–680. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
6. Hernandez LM, Xu EG, Larsson HCE, et al. Plastic teabags release billions of microparticles and nanoparticles into tea. Environ Sci Technol 2019;53:12300–12310. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
7. Jha DK, Dhekne PP, Patwardhan AW. Characterization and evaluation of tea bag papers. J Food Sci Technol 2020;57:3060–3070. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
8. Xu JL, Lin X, Hugelier S, et al. Spectral imaging for characterization and detection of plastic substances in branded teabags. J Hazard Mater 2021;418:126328. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
9. Hirt N, Body-Malapel M. Immunotoxicity and intestinal effects of nano- and microplastics: a review of the literature. Part Fibre Toxicol 2020;17:57. 10.1186/s12989-020-00387-7 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
10. Hesler M, Aengenheister L, Ellinger B, et al. Multi-endpoint toxicological assessment of polystyrene nano- and microparticles in different biological models in vitro. Toxicol In Vitro 2019;61:104610. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
Articles from International Journal of Surgery (London, England) are provided here courtesy of Wolters Kluwer Health (2)
2. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10389239/

Posted by: canuk | Sep 21 2025 15:48 utc | 188

Posted by: persiflo | Sep 20 2025 22:05 utc | 102

There are maps circulating with the alledged flight track. …

Almost certainly FAKE even though the track could be substantially accurate.
Military aircraft do NOT broadcast their position via ADS-B unless they INTEND to advertise it to the world at large.
Flight tracker sites simply aggregate ADS-B broadcasts from individual aircraft. Military or civilian “primary radar” tracks are typically not published at all.

Posted by: Pacific Observer | Sep 21 2025 16:39 utc | 189

@ Pacific Observer | Sep 21 2025 15:47 utc | 187
What is irrelevant and misleading? As I said earlier, there is an international waters passage between Finnish and Estonian waters. Russia isn’t enclaved in the gulf as has been suggested a few times on this thread. At least, that is what the Estonian map shows. Do you have a different map?
This comes down to he says she says scenario. We’ve heard what Estonia says, and according to them, Russia entered its airspace. The map provided shows said airspace (or territorial waters, not sure if they are the same) and the purported flight path of the migs through this airspace.

Posted by: robin | Sep 21 2025 16:40 utc | 190

canuk | Sep 21 2025 15:48 utc | 188
That’s important work, we’re pretty O/t but it’s down thread and China’s future sorted for tea and coffee… So:
Basically we should move to Mongolia, Greenland, Amazonia or Madagascar…where we’ll still be at risk! Forage and grow our own…as the next generations have all kinds of endocrine development issues from our polluted world
Re: Tea
Yes Easy India Company stole tea,(& fermented opium wars) though some claim Japan and Portuguese as 1st route to UK, & I didn’t wish to instigate thread wars.
https://tedx.org/interactive-tools/tedx-list-of-potential-endocrine-disruptors/search-the-tedx-list#sname=&searchfor=any&sortby=chemname&action=search&searchcats=all&sortby=chemname

Posted by: Mercury | Sep 21 2025 17:04 utc | 191

@Toynbee | Sep 20 2025 15:06 utc | 44
Interesting assumption by Toynbee that Russia is possibly attempting to overstretch NATO and EU economies, in the same that it itself got overstreched in Afghanistan 40 years ago. Would be a neet, non military way of provoking the downfall of the West.

Posted by: Shahmaran | Sep 21 2025 18:53 utc | 192

Thanks for the warning, canuk. Indeed I prefer using loose tea. My method of brewing is with a smallish metal container and a sieve through which I pour the finished tea into a glass, or a larger pot to then add more hot (or cold) water.
Hot water and plastics is also a concern regarding Bisphenol A. It can’t be avoided completely at present, but as Paracelsius said wisely, “dosage makes a poison”.

Posted by: persiflo | Sep 21 2025 19:07 utc | 193

Unimperator @18,
It should come as no surprise that Ursula fond of Lying should now want to steal the private savings of Europeans; she already broke the ice on stealing when Russia’s money was illegally confiscated. It’s just more poison from the same bottle.

Posted by: JerseyJeffersonian | Sep 22 2025 17:30 utc | 194

Mystery drones block Copenhagen Airport
Tweets:

Faytuks News @Faytuks
Airspace over Copenhagen has been closed due to presence of multiple large drones near the city’s airport, according to local officials – TV2
https://x.com/Faytuks/status/1970215246012067972
Flightradar24 @flightradar24
⚠️ As of 22:05 local time (20:05 UTC), more than 35 flights bound for Copenhagen Airport have been diverted to other airports due to the drone situation. Malmö, Billund, Aarhus and Gothenburg have received the most flights.
https://x.com/flightradar24/status/1970217982879228373

Live updates:

Drones disrupt the airspace over Copenhagen Airport
What’s happening? On Monday evening, no planes can land or take off at Copenhagen Airport. This is due to two to three “larger” drones in the area, according to Copenhagen Police, who are present at the airport.

Posted by: Petri Krohn | Sep 22 2025 20:45 utc | 195

Replying to ghiwen 197
I know a bit about computers, been a programmer for 50 years. The last year I have spent studying LLMs down to the level of writing Python code to build the LLM from scratch. I agree with you that LLMs are not reliable. However, if you had taken the time to execute the query on “you.com” you would have found that it produced supporting reasoning.
I guess if you object to the statement, perhaps you could produce an airspace map of the Baltic Sea and show me the path that an airplane could take and stay out of territorial airspace. I have wanted to see such a map. I have looked for one for hours. If you know of one, I would be very grateful to see it.
Thanks very much for your help.

Posted by: nevetz | Sep 23 2025 0:45 utc | 196

The distance from the Naissaar lighthouse (on an island belonging to Estonia) and the Finland coast appears to be about 21 miles. The definition of territorial waters is 12 nautical miles (13.8 miles) off the coast of a country. So basically there are no international waters between Finland and Estonia both of whom are in NATO.
Here is a refined query and the full response.

Is it possible for Russia to fly from St. Petersburg to Kaligrad over the Baltic Sea without entering NATO airspace?
Workflow
Thinking
Searching
Thinking
Responding
Direct Flight Path: St. Petersburg to Kaliningrad
No, it is not possible for Russia to fly directly from St. Petersburg to Kaliningrad over the Baltic Sea without entering NATO airspace.
Geographic and Airspace Context
Kaliningrad is a Russian exclave on the Baltic Sea, separated from mainland Russia by the territories of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania—all of which are NATO members.
The Baltic Sea itself is bordered by several NATO countries, including Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland, as well as non-NATO Sweden and Finland (both of which have joined NATO as of 2023).
Any direct flight from St. Petersburg to Kaliningrad, whether over land or sea, would have to cross the airspace of at least one NATO country or their territorial waters.
Overwater Route
Even if a flight path is plotted entirely over the Baltic Sea, the airspace above the Baltic Sea is divided into Flight Information Regions (FIRs) controlled by the surrounding countries, most of which are NATO members.
The only way to avoid NATO airspace would be to fly exclusively over international waters, but the Baltic Sea is relatively narrow, and the international airspace corridor is extremely limited or non-existent for this route.

Posted by: nevetz | Sep 23 2025 2:00 utc | 197

These clowns want WW3 on Russia?
BRING IT! WE WILL LOSE AS WILL NATO

Posted by: Kay | Sep 23 2025 2:55 utc | 198